High-resolution provenance determination of construction-stone: A preliminary study of Corinthian oolitic limestone quarries at Examilia

At least 1.5 × 10 m of oolitic limestone from the Corinthia was quarried during antiquity, mainly for construction. Previously, it has only been possible to speculate about the sources of oolite in ancient constructions because of its uniformity on the macroscopic scale. However, thin section petrography demonstrates a considerable degree of petrographic variation within the oolite of one group of quarries at Examilia, 4.5 km ENE of Ancient Corinth. Variation in the characteristics of the ooids and the amount and types of noncarbonate grains in the oolite from different quarries permit the identification of five petrographically distinct zones in the Examilia quarries. This offers great potential as a high resolution provenancing tool, and the data have numerous other archaeological applications. Following these results, the work has been extended to become a comprehensive study of all Corinthian oolite quarries.